Alternate lifestyles need a change of heart

When we talk of a consumer driven society thriving on materialistic goals we tend to blame — and quite rightly — hypermarket controls as an overriding function of greed.

This, as proponents of alternative lifestyles point out, disconnects us from family, relationships and the natural world and tricks us into accepting an over-hyped, less fulfilling life. In other words, while humankind once sought truth and meaning in nature, now the market actively broadcasts its own version.

Our salvation, the same well-meaning proponents remind us, apparently lies in leading a more harmonious life of moderation with goodness, generosity and compassion — and one that is preferably touched by a moral dimension.

Unfortunately, the alternative lifestyle movement has itself become so totally riven by market forces and by its own internal cut-throat competition that almost everybody in it now just wants to be "me first" or "me best".

Time was when things like yoga, meditation and ayurvedic techniques were considered sufficient for dealing with physical, emotional, mental or spiritual well being. Not any longer. Driven by the same self-indulgence it eschews, the New Age has simply exploded into a million fragments.

What's more, most of these sub- and sub-sub-categories are either zillion buck industries in their own right already or galloping on their way towards becoming one.

Each has its own head honcho(s), promotional strategy, spin-offs and a niche market faithful to and swearing by the product.

Somewhere along the way however, whatever spiritual element might have been there to begin with got lost among new found realities on the ground and, along with it, the original aspirations of its followers. It's time we put the brakes on for them.